This study is situated within corpus-based discourse analysis and provides a critical discussion on China in the Russian mainstream media RIA Novosti during the COVID-19 epidemic. The paper analyzes RIA Novosti’s reports on China during the pandemic COVID-19. The authors use Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model to explore the discourse representations of RIA Novosti’s reports on China during the epidemic and thus uncover the attitudes and stances of the Russian media and social cognition. The authors come to conclusion that RIA Novosti shows great concern about China during the pandemic by focusing on the epidemic itself and its impact. Additionally, Russian reports reflect the stages of China’s fight against the pandemic objectively, truthfully, and comprehensively. RIA Novosti holds a positive attitude towards China’s efforts to fight the epidemic. The study broadens the perspective of academic study of COVID-19 pandemic coverage in China from foreign media and enriches empirical research in Russian.